FATAL ACCIDENT

Shannon News, 20 May 1927, Page 3

FATAL ACCIDENT

DEATH AT MANGAHAO. A member of the Public staff at the upper dam at Mangahao was killed on Tuesday afternoon. His name was W. J. Scott, aged 35, single. The accident happened about 2 p.m. The victim was engaged in concrete work, when a truck over-rail the turntable, the top of the truck falling off the turn-table and striking Scott, who was working underneath. He sustained a fractured skull. The deceased is believed to have rela tives in the South Island, but up to Wednesday night no replies had been received to wires which have been forwarded.

The hearse containing the body left No. 3 dam on Wednesday afternoon for Palmerston North, and was followed by his comrades for a distance of about a mile, practically every man in the camp turning out to pay the last respect to their mate. Mr the engineer-in-charge of Mangahao, made all the funeral arrangements, which took place at Palmerston North cemetery on Thursday afternoon.

THE INQUEST.

An inquest was held at Mangahac on Wednesday before Mr A. Fraser, district coroner. Constable Blaikie represented the police, the union secretary representing the men, and Mr Johnston watched the interests of the Public Works Department. John Gettins, labourer, said he was working in the company of deceased on the concrete foundation at No. 3 dam, Mangahao. His duty was to take the trucks from the mixer and to hook them on the crane, which lifted them up to the other level about 12 feet higher. At about 1.30 p.m. a truck was ready to come down from the top. He and the deceased were standing clear of the truck waiting for it to come down. The deceased was standing by the full truck underneath. Witness happened to look up and saw a truck sliding over the top. He called out to Scott to look out. Deceased seemed to look up and tried to clear himself. The tub' of the truck struck one of the uprights and skidded over towards deceased. It fell and struck deceased on the head, his head striking the full tub which he was standing alongside. At first witness thought he had missed it., but a second or two after he saw him collapse and fall down between tlu; truck and the frame work. He went to pick him up and found him uneon scions. Later he began to bleed from the nose and right ear. He got assistance and Scott was carried to the store, where he died half an hour later, without regaining consciousness. Mr. Jordan,. the overseer, did all he could and the doctor was telephoned for. The men had strict orders not to go under the tubs, either going up or coming clown and this w'as carried out. To Mr. Johnston: Deceased had no + disobeyed any instructions.' He was standing in the place assigned to him and would have been perfectly safe in the ordinary routine of the work. Murdo. McKenzie, labourer, said his duty was to get the truck on the turntable and hook on to the crane which lowered the tub down on to the level below to go to the river. At 1.30 p.m. he pushed a truck from the short side line on to the turntable and through there being no check block the truck got out of control, one. man having no hope of holding it. The chassis of the truck struck an upright and remained on the same level, but the tub fell to the level below, a distance of about 10J feet. Witness called out when he found he could not hold the truck. The tub went over immediately afterwards. He heard shouting below and got down and .went for .assistance. He got Mr. Connolly and thre others to help deceased, who was unconscious. He started work at 12.30 on the section of the dam which required the working of this turntable. He did not notice thenwas no block to check the truck. Had he noticed he would have drawn Mr. Connelly’s attention 1o it. » On the lower level there was a block. In his opinion it was the duty of the platelayer or the carpenter to place the check block. Had the block been in position the accident could not have happened. To Mr. Johnston: Witness had handled ten or twelve trucks before the one went over. There was no previous indication of the truck out of control. No one had mentioned to him that the block was missing. The crane did not lift the tubs from the turn table but from a short line about nine feet from the turntable. Herbert James Gardiner, crane driver, stated he was at his work on the crane lifting tubs of concrete from the ixer to the level above where they were placed on the truck chassis on the line and were then conveyed by other mea to where wanted. He saw a tub leaving the top level .and fall to the level below. He called out to Scott and saw him bending to get out of the way, but did not see anything more. The noise of the mixer probably preventing him from hearing. John Connolly, foreman, said that when he arrived on the scene he found a truck or tub had left the rails and fallen to the level below and that deceas6d had been injured. He at once rendered what assistance he could, the deceased being unconscious and bleeding, dying a quarter of an hour later. When placing McKenzie at his work at the turntable he did not notice there was no block to prevent the truck leaving the line. Had he done so, he would have instructed that a block be placed there immediately. It was the duty of the foreman platelayer to see that the block was placed in position, and it would be witness’ duty to see that he had done it. To Mr. Johnston: He had been employed as Works Foreman in connection with the work at Mangahao for about five years, both on day and night shifts. It was his first duty as foreman to see to the safety of the men. With the continued construction changes taking place it is quite possible that he might, overlook a safety device. He always expected his men to notify him immediately if anything was wrong or missing.’ There was a block on the turntable previously on the lower level

and the fact that it had been alright previously would tend to make,him assured that it was alright in the second position, especially as the turntable men did not mention it.

To the Union Secretary: Had the block been in position the accident would not have happened. The turntable had been in use for some eighteen hours prior to the accident and also by another foreman. William Augustus Hutton, assistant engineer, gave evidence that he had been instructed to spend as much time as.possible on the work and by personal inspection to see that all necessary safeguards against accident were attended to. Should he find anything amiss he had to take immediate steps to have the same remedied. He also had to confer with Mr Jordan, the Works Overseer, as often as possible to ensure that everything was safe. Each gang on the works has a trained foreman in charge. Constable Blaikie gave evidence as to receiving the message and to viewing the b'ody and finding bruises on each side of the head above the ear. In his opinion the injuries indicate a fractured skull, THE VERDICT.

The verdict was that Walter Kenneth Scott came by his death on Tuesday, May 17th at No. 3 Mangaliao dam by being accidentally struck on the head by a falling tub, ivhereby his skull wa3 fractured. \